-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: August 13, 2007 2:17:52 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: (4) A Good Time to Remember Life during the Great Depression
Hundreds of job seekers line up outside the post office on Fort
Street in November 1934, hoping for temporary jobs over the
Christmas season.
How the Great Depression changed Detroit
http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=49&category=life
On March 4, 1929, Herbert Hoover was inaugurated to the
presidency after defeating Al Smith.
Seven men were murdered in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in
Chicago as rival prohibition gangs fought for turf.
Hoagy Carmichael was singing "Stardust"; Noel Coward was in
his heyday. The dirigible Graf Zeppelin circumnavigated the globe
and began regular passenger service.
Detroit produced more than 5,337,000 vehicles in 1929. The city
had had a decade of prosperity highlighted by the building of the
Penobscot Building and the General Motors and Fisher buildings. The
Detroit Zoo opened. The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel opened to autos
under the Detroit River and the Ambassador Bridge above. Covered
Wagon Co. of Detroit began manufacturing Covered Wagon trailer
coaches (mobile homes). Mayor Charles Bowles was recalled by voters
and Frank Murphy was elected.
On Tuesday, Oct. 29, the stock market crashed.
An unemployed Detroiter carries a sign pleading for work, not
charity.
By 1930, car production was down to 3,363,000. In Detroit,
Prohibition had been in effect for 10 years, but nightclubs thrived
and gangs controlled the liquor trade.
July was known as Bloody July after 10 were murdered by
gangsters and radio commentator and anti-mob gadfly Jerry Buckley
was killed in the lobby of the LaSalle Hotel.
Unemployment was becoming a huge problem: on Sept. 25, a list
of Detroit registration places for the unemployed was announced. By
the end of that day, 19,412 jobless had registered; 46,314 had
registered by the 26th; by Sept. 29, just four days after the
announcement, 75,704 had registered.
But poverty had not diminished moral rectitude: a man who had
accepted a charitable donation of a shirt returned the diamond
cufflinks he found in the cuffs.
The Mayor's Commission on Unemployment came up with the idea of
the jobless becoming apple vendors. The idea came from a similar
plan in New York City. Veterans and men with dependents were
eligible. Apples were bought from Washington State growers directly
at the produce terminal and sold for 5c each. Vendors had to pay
for the first box, which was under two dollars. Vendors were
licensed and had to be Detroiters with at least one year of
residence, and were assigned to specific locations. Some 11,000
apples were sold the first day, November 24, 1930, by 150 vendors.
Busy corners were rotated so that one man didn't have the best
spot. At one time there were 700 apple vendors, but by 1934, they
were on the wane with only 50 older men participating.
By Nov. 29,1930, the Capuchins were feeding 800 per day. The
Fisher brothers provided shelter for 2,500 homeless men in the
Fisher plant at Fort and 23rd Street. White Tower restaurants
served free lunches on Dec. 25.
By 1931, the situation was critical. There were unemployment
relief demonstrations in front of City Hall on Jan. 2. Auto
production went down to 1,332,000 units. The idled Fisher plant
became the City Municipal Lodging House, with heat, lights, showers
and meals. But with the despair of joblessness came a corresponding
increase in kindness.
Sen. James Couzens donated $200,000 and Louis Mendelsohn
$100,000. Rosenberg's Department store delivered 1,000 food baskets
and Hudson's gave $10,000. As many as 1,600 physicians donated free
medical care under the auspices of the Medical Relief Committee.
Thrift Gardens were planted in the spring of 1931. Acreage was
donated so that families could grow their own food. There were
4,369 gardens the first year and 7,000 by 1933.
Clothing drives were always in progress. They were held by
police, churches and schools. The Red Cross sent 1,200,000 yards of
fabric here in Sept. 1932. The Red Wings had fans bring clothes to
get into the game. Hudson Motor Car Co. cutters cut out fabric for
boys shirts.
The unemployed demonstrate outside Detroit City Hall in January 1930.
Country parishes of the Archdiocese of Detroit donated surplus
crops to Detroit, which in Jan. 1931 was declared by the U.S.
Census to be the hardest hit of 19 cities, with 174,527 able to
work and out of a job and 49,041 laid off for an unemployed figure
of 223,568. Detroit was followed by Cleveland, Chicago, Buffalo and
Philadelphia.
In 1932, some landlords had been allowing families to live rent
free for months, counting on a promise by the Welfare Department
that they would start to be paid in July. When the department
announced in July that no money would be forthcoming, Clark Park
was set up as an emergency camp for evicted families. Private
citizens and the National Guard donated tents. The women had sewing
circles, the children used the playgrounds and the men looked for
work. Neighbors who initially opposed the encampment ended up
donating food and organizing games for the children.
On March 7, the Ford Hunger March from Detroit was organized by
John Schmies, communist candidate for mayor of Detroit, and led by
Albert Goetz. Three thousand marched from Detroit to Dearborn
asking for union recognition, full employment (Ford had had massive
layoffs) and a six hour work day with no reduction in wages. When
Dearborn police attempted to stop them at the border, rioting
resulted. Four marchers were killed and hundreds were injured.
About 15,000 marched in the funeral procession, and 30,000
gathered at the grave to hear the communist workers anthem, 'The
International' and the funeral march from the 1905 Russian Revolution.
Tax delinquencies caused a fiscal crisis in Detroit. City
employee salaries were reduced and welfare was sharply reduced.
Nationally, 15,000,000 were unemployed. Doctors gave free care to
4,000 and the Fisher plant, 'Fisher Lodge' which had been closed,
reopened to homeless men.
On Feb. 14, 1933, Gov. Comstock declared a bank holiday in
Michigan. The unemployed couldn't pay their mortgages, so the banks
were taking in no money. They held collateral worth a fraction of
its original value. The two biggest were Guardian and First
National. Four smaller independent banks were in better shape.
Outstate funds helped local corporations cope, but on March 6, two
days after his inauguration, President Roosevelt declared a
national bank emergency. By March 21, all solvent banks reopened,
but Detroit's two largest were liquidated and new banks founded:
Manufacturers and National Bank of Detroit.
Rioters chase police in a clash that resulted in four deaths.
Michigan citizens voted to repeal federal prohibition on April
3. On April 27, The city issued scrip to pay employees, and a
Michigan sales tax was approved June 1.
On March 31, Roosevelt signed the Civil Conservation Corps into
law. On April 19, he took the nation off the gold standard. On
April 7, beer and wine were legalized. On Nov. 17, the United
States recognized the Soviet government. On Oct. 14, Germany
withdrew from the League of Nations. On Dec. 5, Repeal was
ratified; it took effect in Michigan Dec. 30.
The Civil Conservation Corps was a government program that was
considered a resounding success. Young men lived in camps and did
forestry work. Michigan provided many of the workers as well as
receiving many of the benefits of the program. The Camps were run
by military men, mostly reserve army officers. The first applicants
in Michigan were taken April 10, 1933. The age span was 18 to 25,
along with some World War I veterans. Participants made $30 a
month, with $22 to $25 sent home to their families. Within 16
months, there were 61 camps in Michigan. with 11,725 men.
They wore blue denim uniforms and were intiially referred to
derogatorily as 'wood lice' The men worked during the day under the
National Forestry Service or the Michigan Emergency/Conservation
Work, and at night were under the control of the military oficers
who ran the camps.
In the first year in Michigan, they planted 28,000,000 trees
and cleared 2,491 miles of truck trails. Eventually, they reduced
fire hazards, reduced losses from tree diseases, built 13 lookout
houses, 14 lookout towers, cleared 1,000 acres for campgrounds,
built 4,000 fire towers, strung 75,000 miles of telephone wire,
built 132,000 miles of road, fought fires, dyked flooding river
banks and planted 1,800,000,000 trees. They put in 8-hour days and
schooling was available. And the program was credited with reducing
the prison population, by giving young men something to do and by
straightening them out.
In 1934, Prohibition was over and the cult of lawlessness was
waning. John Dillinger, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker and Pretty
Boy Floyd were all killed by lawmen.
But in Europe, by the late 1930's, Hitler had annexed Austria.
He was ceded part of Czechoslovakia and invaded the rest. Italy
occupied Albania and Ethiopia.
As Europe marched toward war, the United States geared up to
build the tanks and planes to fight it.
Factories began to hire again, and men went back to work --
off to war.
Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.
www.ctrl.org
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/
<A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
